~~2 months later, June 2000~~

"I think there are more adults here than children," Jessica said as she walked into the backyard of her new home. Fans had found her old house and bombarded her, and Sanya moved out, so Jessica recently bought a new home for herself and Kayci in a secluded development. It was Kayci's 5th birthday, and they were having a massive party with kids and adults scattered everywhere. The house was large enough to accommodate everyone though, seeing as how it had 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and enough space to house a herd of elephants comfortably.

Children were running around in every which direction, causing one massive blur of color. There were kids in the pool. There were kids on the play set. There were kids inside. There were kids basically everywhere imaginable, and with the kids. came their parents.

"Think about it this way," Nick said and sat down next to Jessica on a lawn chair. Kayci was in the pool so she made it a point to stay close. "At least the munch kin is enjoying herself... and she'll never run out of Pokemon crap."

"God, I hate that stuff," Jessica shuddered making Nick laugh. He pulled her closer and they sat together watching the kids splash and hit each other with noodles.

Everything there was being done professionally. The entertainment, the music, the food, and even the parking. It all seemed pretty high class to Jessica and she wasn't quite used to being in the high profile status block yet. Though, along with the status, came the new friends.

"Sup, Jessica!" Will, Smith that is, came over to her and she stood up to hug him and Jada. "Trey has not stopped moving since he got here. It's crazy. I'd hate to see an adult party here," he said as Nick stood up and they did that weird-guy-slap-hand-hug thing.

"They get pretty wild," Jessica laughed and held out her arms for Jaden Christopher, who was perched on Jada's hip. "How's my favorite big boy?" she kissed the 2 year olds cheeks and he buried his face in his hands while he blushed.

"I'm fine, thanks," Nick smirked and Will did another one of those slap things over her head with him.

"I said big boy, not big idiot," Jess mumbled.

"Honey, I feel your pain," Jada looked at Will and he smiled cheekily. "You and Nick really have a beautiful house here."

Nick's eyes grew wide and Jessica almost dropped Jaden. "We don't live together, but thank you."

"Sorry!" Jada took her son back and laughed. "That must have made you feel awkward."

"No, it's all right. I've been trying to convince her to move in with me for a while now, but then she went out and bought this place," Nick covered and Jessica looked at him incredulously.

"Well, I'm gonna head over to the buffet set up that's goin' on and get me some grub, if ya know what I'm saying," Will said in a weird voice and rubbed his stomach.

"What do you normally feed him to make him this way? I need to take some to Kevin," Nick asked Jada and she laughed.

"It has nothing to do with my cooking."

"Especially since you don't cook," Will said as he walked away.

"Don't even go there Mr. Everything-I-Say-Is-One-Big-Fat-Joke," Jada rolled her eyes as she followed behind him. "I'll be back around, hun!" she turned and called to Jessica.

"All right!" she yelled back and Jess and Nick looked at each other for a second before breaking out into laughter. The two of them sat back down, this time though, Jessica laid in the same chair as Nick. "What was up with the moving in together crap?

"I was just trying to help since you seemed so stunned by the whole question," Nick shrugged.

"What question? We've never even discussed the options."

"Well, would you?"

"Move in with you? I just bought this house which I will be paying for until I'm retired," Nick furrowed his brow. "I would have if we had talked about it sooner..." he still looked upset. Jessica fought with herself in her mind trying to find the simple solution to all of this. "Move in with me."

"What?!" Nick almost fell out of the chair.

Jessica sat up and ran her fingers through her hair. "Shhh... Kayci were gonna go inside and get something. Ok?"

Kayci looked up at her mother and smiled. She then went back to splashing Zachary.

There were other parents in the pool, so Jess felt safe leaving Kayci outside. Nick followed Jessica inside through the kitchen sliding door. They went upstairs and down the hall on the right. She opened one of the double doors and Nick slipped in behind her and locked it.

"I said move in with me," Jessica repeated herself as soon as he turned around.

"But Jess-"

"But what?! You are living alone, and you're here all the time anyway. There's a private beach less than 50 feet away from my backyard. What's the problem?"

They sat in silence while Nick stared out the window. Jessica groaned out of frustration and flopped backwards onto her bed. She laid there with her eyes closed, waiting for an answer.

She could feel a pair of eyes on her, and she could hear Nick as he came closer and sat down next to her. He laid down next to Jessica and pulled her silent figure into his arms.

"How soon?"

"How soon, what?"

"How soon can we get all my stuff over here?" he said softly and Jessica opened her eyes calmly.

Suddenly, she squealed as she hugged him tightly. "You're not kidding?"

"Of course not. I wanna be in the same house with you once our daughter is born," he said and rubbed Jessica's stomach softly.

"What makes you think it's going to be a girl? I want a little boy that looks exactly like you," she giggled when Nick laid his head on her stomach.

"I'm sorry. It's going to be a cute little girl just like her cute little mother," he kissed her stomach and got up to eye level with Jessica.

"We'll see, Mr. Carter."

"Yes, we will Mrs. Carter," he said and Jessica's eyes grew wide in recognition. "That's another thing we have to talk about."

"I'm thinking, yes," she nodded. "I hope you know I'm not ready for that," she bit her bottom lip and sat up, holding her knees to her chest.

Nick sat up next to Jessica and mocked her position. They looked like two kids. "I'm not either," he said after a few moments of silence. "It's not that I couldn't devote myself to just you, because I already have. It's just... that's a really big step."

"A really big one."

"I mean... I love you, and I love the thought of being with you."

"Yeah, definitely. I definitely love you," Jessica repeated.

"I don't know... maybe I'm scared."

"Being scared is good," she nodded.

"So you do feel the same way?" he looked at her expectantly.

Jessica looked back into Nick's baby blue eyes and felt her fear lessen a little. "Yeah, I do. Don't scare me with little jokes like that again though, ok?" Nick smiled and she leaned in and kissed his lips softly.

"I won't."

"Thank god. You almost gave me a heart attack. Now, c'mon," she pulled him up from the bed. "My baby's got a party I'm missing."

"You're not missing much out there when there's so much you could be doing in here," Nick fell back on the bed bringing Jessica with him.

"I won't deny that, but-" she was cut off by his lips. Jess stopped bracing herself up and let her body weight onto Nick's. He smiled, cupping her face in one of his hands and then let it slip back into her hair. This, while his other hand brushed past her sides and lightly tickled her. Jessica laughed and broke away from him. "Let me up," she hit his body.

Nick let go of her reluctantly. "You're no fun."

"That's not what you said last night," she giggled and ran across the room to the door.

"Oh, yeah?"

She nodded. "If I remember correctly, last night you thought I was a lot of fun," she screamed as Nick dashed from the bed. Turning out of the room quickly, Jessica ran down the steps and through the family room, where a bunch of kids piled in front of the TV watching a movie. They laughed when they saw Nick right on her heels. Jessica slipped out the door as someone was coming in and Nick almost ran into the person in pursuit. She turned around and laughed at him as he apologized, but he quickly took off after her again. Jessica tried to cut through a kickball game that was in progress, but Nick caught her next to their makeshift 3rd base. "Why does this remind me of the first time we met?" she laughed as Nick picked her up and carried her back towards house.

"Uncanny, isn't it?" he smirked and stopped as he was passing the pool. "Ya know it's almost as if we're reliving it."

"But there wasn't a pool involved when we met," Jessica screamed when Nick pretended to drop her in the water. "If I go in, you're going with me."

Nick seemed to think about it. As he was standing there, they both suddenly fell in the 8 feet of water. They both came up sputtering and to the sounds of the whole party in laughter.

"Nick!" Jessica swam to him and was about to push him under when she heard a familiar giggle. "Cici-hun!" she called in a sing song voice. Nick, either feeling protective or just wanting to hold her, held Jessica up at her hips.

Kayci, and her friend Jackie, came over to the edge of the water and looked at Jessica giggling. "We got you good, mommy," they sat down, Kayci in front of Jess.

"Yeah, you did. I think you should say you're sorry, though."

"Oh, ok... I'm sorry, mommy..." Jessica kissed her forehead and hugged her. "Did I hurt the baby?"

Nick coughed loudly and Jessica came up with something quickly, not losing her composure. "No, hun. You're still my baby. Just a big 5 year old baby," Kayci looked at her strangely before standing back up and running off with Jackie.

Feeling the eyes upon her, and being a performer, Jessica played off the incident easily. "That little girl. She's always insists on being my baby," a few of the of the people staring turned back around.

When they felt like they weren't being watched anymore, Nick buried his face in Jessica's shoulder. "That would have been killer."

"I know," Jess sighed and let herself out of Nick's embrace. She swam to the steps and pulled herself out of the water. "I'm gonna go change. You coming?" she whipped her head around quickly to look at Nick but was met with a laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry I must have gotten you wet..." Jessica squealed when the face registered, almost automatically in her brain.

"It's nice to see you again too, Jessica," Madonna, with a little 4 year old Lola on her hip, laughed again and hugged Jess. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, it has. I didn't think you would actually come."

"Don't tell me you'd think I'd forget?" the most famous woman on the face of this earth shook her head at the thought. She looked over Jessica's dripping body. "I wanted to talk but I'll let you get changed first."

"Thanks, I'll be right back," Jessica smiled warmly and took Nick's hand leading him inside.

10 minutes later, the two of them were back outside and conversation was in full swing between Jessica, Nick and Madonna.

"So, how many months along are you?" Madonna asked in a hushed tone as she slid her sunglasses up her nose some more.

"You can tell?" Jessica's eye grew wide.

"Jess, I am the queen of hiding a pregnancy," she laughed. Everyone of course knows about her being pregnant during the filming of Evita and causing quite a stir.

"4 months," she sighed and Nick wrapped the arms he had around her tighter.

"Only the guys, their girlfriends, her best friend, Kayci, and the record company know," Nick explained.

"How ironic? Virgin's biggest star is obviously not," Madonna smiled and Jessica sighed.

"Yeah, well I've been having problems with them lately. They want to send me on a promotional tour again even though I've done 2 already. I've complained a couple of times but they refuse to hear me out."

"Really?... How would you like to come and work for Maverick?" the offer was set on the table.

Nick nudged Jessica excitedly and she giggled. "You've got to be kidding me?" Madonna shook her head. "I'd love to but my contract is almost impossible to work out of."

"I can do it. Just chill and give me a week. I'll give you all the rest you need, because believe me. I've been there and back," she held out her hand for Jessica to shake.

Jessica accepted the powerful stars hand. "It's a deal."

Within the next 2 months, Denise had worked with Madonna to get Jessica out of her old contract and into her new one with Maverick Records. She was given time off to relax and work on new material, which was exactly what she needed. Everyone was at the house daily helping Nick move in his stuff or helping to work on the new nursery. Everyone seemed to be getting closer by the day, especially the soon-to-be parents. The whole group had a good idea of what was to come for the two of them, and were waiting almost every day for one of them to bust into a room and announce the engagement that they all expected.

Though, none of them could truly know what was about to happen.

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